“You don’t need to reinterpret drinks that have been perfect for 80 years.”

Time for a books & booze break! Lexicographer/bartender Jesse Sheidlower returns to the show (here’s our first ep.) to talk about bartending at The Threesome Tollbooth, a very intimate cocktail experience in Brooklyn (as in, there’s only space for two patrons and a bartender). We get into the origin of the Tollbooth and why it’s neither a “speakeasy” nor immersive theater, the confession-booth aspect of the space and the sanctity of the bartender-patron relationship, the reasons classic cocktails become classic and why barely anyone’s ever had a real daiquiri, and how you can get New Yorkers to stop looking at their phones. Plus, we talk about Jesse’s new built-in bookshelves (which are a sight to behold)! Give it a listen! And go check out The Threesome Tollbooth!

“A daiquiri is a fascinating cocktail because it’s a great classic cocktail and no one has ever had it. They all think it’s a frozen, slushy, overly sweet drink that they get in a mediocre Mexican restaurant. But a classic daiquiri — rum, lime juice and simple syrup — is an almost perfect cocktail.”